Women who aren’t dieting need to exercise for at least 60 minutes a day seven days a week to maintain a healthy weight says the study that appeared in the Journal of American Medical Association this week. For those who are already overweight, and that’s most American women-66% of women of 60 in fact, even more exercise is necessary without eating less. The participants in the study were women in their 4o’s and 50′s. The results striking a chord for Gen Jones women. Many were skeptical of the report with lack of time being the most significant factor against following the guidelines.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052748704896104575140011148266470.html
Scary report…not. Instead of letting exercise dominate your life, let life dominate your exercise.
I have always advocated for no gym, no equipment, no excuses. Don’t get me wrong, I love finding a fabulous gym with clean equipment and getting a good heart pounding, muscle pumping training session in. But truly the most important factor is getting your 7×60 fitness to stave off weight gain. It doesn’t matter where you do your training or how you get it done. Do you like dancing? Take a ballet, salsa or swing class. Not into classes, how about a night of clubbing (try to steer clear of the alcohol tho). Hang out in nature and take a fresh air hike! What’s your favorite sport? Basketball, swimming, tennis..it’s all good.
And you don’t need any special equipment to get ‘er done. I am a proponent of using what is in my environment to stay fit. Park benches, walls, fences, even sign poles can be used as fitness gear. A walk to the park, the bus stop, down the street or through a parking lot into the grocery store counts as cardio. My hometown is implementing a significant bicycling initiative, with bike parks, bike lanes and sharrows, shared traffic lanes. Insist on these commuting improvements in your community. Did you know that most of us live within 5 miles of our workplace?That’s a twenty minute bike ride. Hop on your favorite two wheeler, a trip to work and home again adds up to 40 of your necessary daily 60 doing something you gotta do anyway.
I’m also a big fan of fooling yourself into fitness. Working out doesn’t even have to be “doing exercise”. Is your passion gardening? Guess what, pulling weeds is a great workout! Put in an hour perfecting your backyard. Even housework can be retrofitted into an exercise session. Hand polishing floors is a great upper body workout, passing a vacuum over the carpet works upper and lower body, do a couple of bicep curls with your liquid laundry detergent container while you are doing the wash. How many times do you run up and down the staircase in your house or building?…that’s fitness! It all counts.
Here’s another gift, exercise is cumulative. There is no rule that says you have to workout for one consecutive hour every day in order to accomplish the end goal. Three twenty minute or six ten minute sessions are just as effective.
The study emphasized the fact that packing on pounds happens if we don’t cut down on our food consumption with age. The claim stated that our metabolism slows down year after year and the hormonal changes that accompany menopause are primary causes. But really, who wants to cut back on the best thing in life…eating. So you’ve got to keep your body in high gear. A sluggish metabolism has less to do with natural phenom and more to do with the onset of a sedentary lifestyle. The good news is when you keep your body moving your metabolism spike is exponential. The more you move the more your metabolism stays in high gear. In other words your body keeps burning calories while you are resting.
Instead of fighting the study, embrace it and all that you do in your daily life. Get up and get going. Do what you do..just keep moving.
